Welcome to CringeCore, the art of embracing bad taste

When Taylor Swift accepted an honorary degree from New York University recently, she urged students to “learn to live alongside cringe”. While many thought this was a reference to not embarrassing oneself, it turns out she may have been nodding to the latest manifesto sweeping the metaverse.

A flood of memes with the words “I am cringe … but I am free” have been dropping into feeds recently. If, like me (and indeed anyone over the age of 30), you are wondering what on earth it all means, here is the answer.

Like NormCore — that ill-defined genre of looking normal, but in a self-aware, slightly ironic way — cringe is the latest movement to embrace the dizzying thrill of being a nerd. If NormCore was knowingly dressing like Jerry Seinfeld, then CringeCore is about celebrating bad taste.

The past five years or so have seen a breaking down of the rigid network of fashion seasons, genders and dress codes, so that the once closely followed concept of “trends” has seemingly lost all meaning. In its place, a freer, more authentic style of dressing has emerged, as people shift to an individual approach, framed by unashamed normality.

Being cringe does not require a keen eye for colourblocking, or knowing how to wear a jacket just so. It demands no clever pattern-matching or knowledge of historical references. Instead, it lets people be their own, authentic, badly dressed selves.

This haphazard got-dressed-in-the-dark approach is a relative new direction in fashion. Think the vastly oversized anoraks of Balenciaga, or the blissfully mismatched shrunken tank tops and flared trousers of Gucci. Or how about the cakes-as-clothes at Moschino, or the aircraft-shaped bag at Louis Vuitton?

If good taste is a narrow, exclusive point of view, then cringe is the wide-open, inclusive space around it. With a topic as subjective as taste now up for debate, it seems anything goes in the new world of CringeCore.

What began as irony has crystallised into a fully fledged shift towards a freer, more authentic way of dressing. And what is more free than throwing off the weight of expectation and just wearing whatever takes your mood that day? Tracksuit bottoms? Tick. Slightly dodgy old T-shirt found at the back of the wardrobe? Tick. Supermarket-branded trainers? Tick.

For its recent tie-up with Adidas, Gucci doubled down on celebrating nerds. The campaign was filled with 1970s-inspired get-ups, from sport headbands to nylon-looking flared trousers, accented with exercise bikes, hand weights and golf bags. There were even clogs in the collection, perhaps the most awkward shoe of all.

When the clog was seized on as the hottest new item last season by the fashion elite, it was for the ironic throwback value, like the Birkenstock the season before. Now it has been reclaimed by the cringe crowd for what it actually is — a practical, cheap and long-lasting shoe that is extremely comfortable once you get the hang of it.

CringeCore is also about embracing feeling awkward in public and self-conscious in a crowd. It is accepting you feel like an impostor in most situations, yet not being too hard on yourself about it. It is about enjoying the freedom that comes with being the weird one and seeing the beauty of the mundane.

According to a 2021 study by Hotter.com, we finally stop caring what others think of us at age 46, meaning that cringe is either relevant or not, depending on how old you are right now.

A glance at fashion runways will show many brands walking a fine line between the ultimate in high fashion and so-bad-it's-bad CringeCore, but as the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Regardless if you are rocking the latest Balenciaga or cheap supermarket jeans, just make sure you honour yourself — and the memes — and remain free.